Fracture Toughness Investigation on Long Kenaf/Woven Glass Hybrid Composite Due To Water Absorption Effect

Water absorption of natural fiber composite is of serious concerned especially for outdoor application. In this study, long kenaf/woven glass hybrid composite is fabricated in-house using cold press technique. The effect of water absorption on the hybrid composites is investigated at room temperature under three different environmental conditions, i.e. distilled water, rain water, and sea water. The moisture absorption amount is obtained by calculating the different percentage weight before and after the immersion process. The moisture content is found to exhibit non-Fickian behaviour regardless of three different conditions. Liquid exposure of long kenaf/woven glass hybrid composite deteriorates the fracture toughness due to the weakening of interface between fiber and matrix. There are also several recognized modes of humidity aging found through SEM observation.